Berlusconi wiretaps reveal suspected pimp had visa to join him in China
September 18, 2011 No Comment
Senior aide says Italian prime minister still has ‘no desire to resign’ despite growing sleaze scandal A senior aide to Silvio Berlusconi has said the Italian prime minister will not resign over a fresh scandal about his sex life, as it was reported on Sunday that a man accused of supplying him with prostitutes was issued a diplomatic visa to join him on an official visit to China. News of the trip in 2008 emerged in wiretap transcripts released by magistrates at the conclusion of an investigation into Giampaolo Tarantini, an entrepreneur and cocaine dealer accused of bringing dozens of women to parties at Berlusconi’s residences in 2008 and 2009. Handed a diplomatic visa to join Berlusconi’s visit to China in October 2008, Tarantini phoned a colleague to ask how he could set up a night’s entertainment for the prime minister during the visit. “I wanted someone on the inside who could organise an evening … because he has said he will get fed up with the official, formal things there,” said Tarantini. Berlusconi is not under investigation since prostitution is not illegal in Italy, although profiting from prostitution is against the law. Nevertheless, opposition politicians renewed calls for his resignation at the weekend. “What is happening is humiliating for all Italians,” said Pierluigi Bersani, head of the Democratic party. But Angelino Alfano, the secretary-general of Berlusconi’s Freedom People movement, warned on Sunday that “the prime minister has no desire to resign”. The new wiretaps appear to back up Berlusconi’s boast to one woman that he is a “part-time” prime minister . Transcripts show he withdrew from an appointment at the UN in September 2008, officially to resolve a crisis at Italian airline Alitalia, only to spend the evening with Terry de Nicolò, an escort supplied by Tarantini. Berlusconi also took time out from official duties to ensure that one of his regular guests, showgirl Barbara Guerra, was not voted off a reality show on one of his TV channels. In another call, he reminded another showgirl, Belén Rodríguez, that he had personally secured her a presenter’s role on a TV programme. Berlusconi’s obsession with youth is evident from his description of his guests as ” bambine “. In one conversation, Tarantini explained how he first gained Berlusconi’s confidence at a wedding in 2008 where the prime minister was smitten by a contestant on Italian Big Brother. Tarantini told Berlusconi he had the girl’s number but it would be unwise to call her because she “is always with her boyfriend”. Instead, Tarantini offered to act as go-between. After allegedly aiming to secure public works contracts thanks to his ties to Berlusconi, magistrates believe Tarantini then sought to blackmail Berlusconi in return for his silence when the investigation into his alleged pimping activities began . Although Berlusconi is not suspected of wrongdoing, magistrates in Naples leading the blackmail investigation have asked to interview him. Berlusconi has so far refused, sending them a note in which he claimed he paid the money because he feared Tarantini was destitute and risked “self-harm”. One option open to magistrates now is to dispatch police officers to escort Berlusconi to their office. “I hope the prime minister is aware of how deep the criticism, disgust and rancour towards him now runs in this country,” said Nichi Vendola, the head of the Left Ecology Freedom party. Silvio Berlusconi Italy Europe China Tom Kington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Libyan NTC leaders fail to agree on interim cabinet as fighting continues
September 18, 2011 No Comment
Pressure mounts to appoint Islamic figures to senior positions, while rebels continue bid to take control of Sirte and Bani Walid Libya’s new leaders haggled over expanding their interim cabinet on Sunday as fighting continued for control of two strategic strongholds of the old regime. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), had been expected to announce a cabinet of up to 36 members in an effort to emphasise unity and counter criticism that the body was unrepresentative. But a failure to reach agreement appears to reflect divisions that are casting a shadow over the post-revolutionary political landscape. Mahmoud Jibril, the acting prime minister, would only say consultations in Benghazi had not been completed, but NTC sources said they believed a deal would be done “within days”. The NTC has been under pressure to appoint some Islamist figures to reflect their role in the revolution, but tensions have emerged between the council and rebel commanders, as well as with Ali Salabi, an influential preacher being promoted by Qatar and its al-Jazeera TV channel. Rebels in the former enclave of Misrata, who took heavy losses during the revolution, announced their own candidate, Abdul-Rahman Sweilhi, for prime minister. Sweilhi warned of the danger of a “new dictatorship” and insisted the government could not include “symbols of the Gaddafi regime”. The focus of the tension is Jibril, a technocrat and former regime official who has been accused of failing to consult enough with grassroots opposition groups. Jibril, who helped craft the Nato strategy towards the Libyan uprising, is still expected to retain his post as interim prime minister. Ali Tarhuni, a US-educated economist, is favourite to take charge of economic affairs. The US, Britain and other western governments have been encouraging Abdel Jalil and Jibril to be more inclusive amid nervousness about internal disagreements while the liberation of the country is incomplete and Gaddafi is still at large and trying to rally support. Alarm bells first rang in July when the opposition military commander, General Abdel-Fattah Younis, an early defector from the regime, died in what many think was an attack by an Islamist group . The NTC has laid down a detailed timetable under which the “countdown” to a constitutional referendum and elections can begin only when the country is declared liberated. An NTC military spokesman predicted at the weekend that Sirte on the coast and Bani Walid in the centre would fall soon but, in reality, it could still take weeks to retake the cities from fighters loyal to Gaddafi. Reuters correspondents at the Bani Walid front described a chaotic rebel retreat after another day of inconclusive fighting. Refugees fleeing Sirte on Sunday told rebels that supplies of food, medicines and water were running low. A fourth day of combat inside the city saw rebels launch attacks against loyalist units fortified around Ouagadougou hall, the venue for pan-African congresses before the war, and a line of luxury beach-front villages held by the 32nd brigade, commanded by Gaddafi’s son Khamis. Nato jets have continued to bomb in support of the offensive, hitting command centres, vehicles and missile sites on Saturday. The alliance said it had destroyed 39 targets since rebel forces entered the city on Thursday. Rebel commanders said they were rethinking their strategy of avoiding the use of heavy weapons in the city centre for fear of harming civilians. Four days of fighting have resulted in 25 deaths and 76 injuries among anti-Gaddafi forces. Many happened on Saturday when they were hit by Grad missiles fired from loyalist compounds. Truck-mounted Grad rocket launchers, tanks and two 155mm guns, recently captured from pro-Gaddafi forces, are being readied to target sites in the city. Misrata military council, which is commanding the offensive, said six Scud missiles were found, two prepared for launching, when loyalist positions in the Jaref valley close to Sirte were overrun. Reports from Sabha, another regime stronghold in the south of Libya, described advances by rebel forces amid rumours that Gaddafi himself, his son Mutasim and intelligence chief Abdullah Sanussi were all in the area. Gaddafi’s spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, claimed Nato air raids killed 354 people in Sirte on Friday. “We will be able to continue this fight and we have enough arms for months and months to come,” Ibrahim said in a call to Reuters via satellite telephone on Saturday. Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi Nato Ian Black Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Residents await bailiffs as Basildon council starts eviction after Travellers’ 10-year struggle to stay on Essex site Mary Flynn sees – and hears – bailiffs everywhere. “You wake at 4am, you wake at 2am, you wake at 1am. If you hear the dustman coming you think, ‘There they are.’ If you hear a lorry coming, you think, ‘There they are, we’ve got to get up.’” After months of sleepless nights, the fateful knock on the door of the 72-year-old’s cream Vivaldi caravan could come on Monday. Assuming they make it past a network of makeshift scaffold blockades and hastily erected brick walls, bailiffs employed by Basildon council are due to start the £18m eviction of Travellers living at Dale Farm on Monday morning. The eviction process, which is likely to be fraught and complex, lasting several days, will bring to a close a 10-year battle by the Traveller families, numbering about 400 people in all, to remain on the site in the Essex green belt, which they own but for which they have no planning permission. Final battle lines were being drawn throughout Sunday. As teams of men in high-visibility jackets fenced off a zone around the illegal section of the community, inside which bright yellow diggers waited, those within the camp were doing their best to make the bailiffs’ job as difficult as possible. Much of the blockading, which included a platform balanced on precarious scaffold stilts about 10 metres above the main gate, has been overseen by outside volunteers who set up camp on the site over recent weeks, bringing with them expertise and tactics honed on environmental protests. These will include “locking on”, in which activists and residents will attach themselves using locks to caravans or other fixed objects. David, a 46-year-old roofer from Northumberland who was mixing mortar for a brick wall being built across the likely path of the diggers, said he was one of the few with no previous experience. “This is the first protest I’ve ever been on,” he said. “I read about what was happening in the papers and thought: this isn’t right. The idea they’re spending £18m to break up a community seems crazy.” Throughout Sunday a stream of cars and vans left the site, ferrying children, some older residents and valuables to the adjoining legal section. In the evening the main gates were closed, with supporters further reinforcing them from inside. While the Travellers are grateful to the activists – and for other outside voices of support, which have included a UN race relations committee and the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights – the abiding mood remained one of pessimism. “What am I feeling? I’m heartbroken for myself, but I’m also heartbroken for the old people and the children. How are they going to cope?,” said Kathleen McCarthy, 48, who spent the day moving her valuables and overseeing the evacuation of two infant grandchildren and a heavily pregnant daughter-in-law. She, like other residents, says she is terrified the eviction could become violent: “Whatever happens it is Basildon council’s problem. They caused it. Even now we’re pleading with them to stop all this.” Residents have submitted planning applications for smaller sites on land where the owners have signalled they would be happy with a Traveller community. McCarthy said she did not understand why Basildon had not waited for these to be considered. “My whole family is here, and just about everyone here is family. There’s my children, grandchildren, my sisters and brothers, my mother, my aunts, my uncles. How can we all live together again? Would they do this to any other group of people? Any other community wouldn’t be treated the way we are being treated.” The council, which claims overwhelming local support for its tough line, says that if bailiffs get access to the site on Monday all they will do is formally request that residents leave. Coming days will see the removal of caravans and mobile homes, after which the asphalt roads will be ripped up by diggers. Basildon says it does not believe there are any fixed homes on the site, meaning none will be demolished. The council’s leader warned of possible violence, alleging activists unilaterally cancelled a meeting with officials to discuss the eviction process. “We are very concerned that tension has increased and it may now make our job of clearing the site in a safe and orderly manner even more difficult,” said Tony Ball. “It now seems that those who claim to have the Travellers’ interests at heart are more intent on causing trouble and disorder.” A spokesman for the site described this as a “smear story”, saying the Travellers did want to meet the council but had simply requested this happened somewhere other than at Dale Farm. According to Flynn, who has osteoporosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,, needing a nebuliser four times a day, the impending eviction has made life unbearable. When the bulldozers arrived last week, her daughters struggled to persuade their children to get on the school bus: “They are terrified. They won’t go to school. They say ‘You won’t be here when I get back. They are going to take us away from our homes. Where are we going to live?’” Most children go to the local primary school, where almost all the pupils come from Travelling families. Flynn’s daughters, Michelle Sheridan and Nora Sheridan, say they fear for their children in mainstream schools, and for their wider families if scattered around housing estates. “Everyone is scared of the race hate we’re going to get,” said Michelle. Her mother is equally gloomy. “I don’t care what happens now. I’m fed up with my life,” said Flynn. “What do they think they are doing to us? The council should show some understanding. They never did care about us. We are human beings, we are not dogs or pets.” “You’ll see people dead on the site,” said Nora. “The old people aren’t going to be able to stand it.” Dale Farm Housing Local government Race issues Peter Walker Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Residents await bailiffs as Basildon council starts eviction after Travellers’ 10-year struggle to stay on Essex site Mary Flynn sees – and hears – bailiffs everywhere. “You wake at 4am, you wake at 2am, you wake at 1am. If you hear the dustman coming you think, ‘There they are.’ If you hear a lorry coming, you think, ‘There they are, we’ve got to get up.’” After months of sleepless nights, the fateful knock on the door of the 72-year-old’s cream Vivaldi caravan could come on Monday. Assuming they make it past a network of makeshift scaffold blockades and hastily erected brick walls, bailiffs employed by Basildon council are due to start the £18m eviction of Travellers living at Dale Farm on Monday morning. The eviction process, which is likely to be fraught and complex, lasting several days, will bring to a close a 10-year battle by the Traveller families, numbering about 400 people in all, to remain on the site in the Essex green belt, which they own but for which they have no planning permission. Final battle lines were being drawn throughout Sunday. As teams of men in high-visibility jackets fenced off a zone around the illegal section of the community, inside which bright yellow diggers waited, those within the camp were doing their best to make the bailiffs’ job as difficult as possible. Much of the blockading, which included a platform balanced on precarious scaffold stilts about 10 metres above the main gate, has been overseen by outside volunteers who set up camp on the site over recent weeks, bringing with them expertise and tactics honed on environmental protests. These will include “locking on”, in which activists and residents will attach themselves using locks to caravans or other fixed objects. David, a 46-year-old roofer from Northumberland who was mixing mortar for a brick wall being built across the likely path of the diggers, said he was one of the few with no previous experience. “This is the first protest I’ve ever been on,” he said. “I read about what was happening in the papers and thought: this isn’t right. The idea they’re spending £18m to break up a community seems crazy.” Throughout Sunday a stream of cars and vans left the site, ferrying children, some older residents and valuables to the adjoining legal section. In the evening the main gates were closed, with supporters further reinforcing them from inside. While the Travellers are grateful to the activists – and for other outside voices of support, which have included a UN race relations committee and the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights – the abiding mood remained one of pessimism. “What am I feeling? I’m heartbroken for myself, but I’m also heartbroken for the old people and the children. How are they going to cope?,” said Kathleen McCarthy, 48, who spent the day moving her valuables and overseeing the evacuation of two infant grandchildren and a heavily pregnant daughter-in-law. She, like other residents, says she is terrified the eviction could become violent: “Whatever happens it is Basildon council’s problem. They caused it. Even now we’re pleading with them to stop all this.” Residents have submitted planning applications for smaller sites on land where the owners have signalled they would be happy with a Traveller community. McCarthy said she did not understand why Basildon had not waited for these to be considered. “My whole family is here, and just about everyone here is family. There’s my children, grandchildren, my sisters and brothers, my mother, my aunts, my uncles. How can we all live together again? Would they do this to any other group of people? Any other community wouldn’t be treated the way we are being treated.” The council, which claims overwhelming local support for its tough line, says that if bailiffs get access to the site on Monday all they will do is formally request that residents leave. Coming days will see the removal of caravans and mobile homes, after which the asphalt roads will be ripped up by diggers. Basildon says it does not believe there are any fixed homes on the site, meaning none will be demolished. The council’s leader warned of possible violence, alleging activists unilaterally cancelled a meeting with officials to discuss the eviction process. “We are very concerned that tension has increased and it may now make our job of clearing the site in a safe and orderly manner even more difficult,” said Tony Ball. “It now seems that those who claim to have the Travellers’ interests at heart are more intent on causing trouble and disorder.” A spokesman for the site described this as a “smear story”, saying the Travellers did want to meet the council but had simply requested this happened somewhere other than at Dale Farm. According to Flynn, who has osteoporosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,, needing a nebuliser four times a day, the impending eviction has made life unbearable. When the bulldozers arrived last week, her daughters struggled to persuade their children to get on the school bus: “They are terrified. They won’t go to school. They say ‘You won’t be here when I get back. They are going to take us away from our homes. Where are we going to live?’” Most children go to the local primary school, where almost all the pupils come from Travelling families. Flynn’s daughters, Michelle Sheridan and Nora Sheridan, say they fear for their children in mainstream schools, and for their wider families if scattered around housing estates. “Everyone is scared of the race hate we’re going to get,” said Michelle. Her mother is equally gloomy. “I don’t care what happens now. I’m fed up with my life,” said Flynn. “What do they think they are doing to us? The council should show some understanding. They never did care about us. We are human beings, we are not dogs or pets.” “You’ll see people dead on the site,” said Nora. “The old people aren’t going to be able to stand it.” Dale Farm Housing Local government Race issues Peter Walker Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk
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Former head of IMF speaks of regret about sexual encounter in interview on French television Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, acknowledged on Sunday that his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid was a “moral failing” on his part, but didn’t involve violence, constraint or aggression. In his first interview since his arrest over sexual assault accusations, Strauss-Kahn told France’s TF1 television channel what happened between him and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, “was not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that, it was an error”. Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist politician who was widely considered a top contender in next year’s presidential race until the case broke, said “it was a failing, a failing vis-a-vis my wife, my children and my friends but also a failing vis-a-vis the French people, who had vested their hopes for change in me. “I think it was a moral failing and I am not proud of it. I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it everyday for the past four months and I think I’m not done regretting it,” he said at the start of the 20-minute interview. Much of the exchange came off as staged, with Strauss-Kahn appearing calm and unruffled throughout and not surprised by the questions. Strauss-Kahn’s initial contrition was peppered with anger at his accuser, a Guinean immigrant who maintained he attacked her after she came into his room at New York’s Sofitel hotel to clean. He said the New York prosecutor concluded “Nafissatou Diallo lied about everything – not only about her past, that’s of no importance, but also about what happened. The[prosecutor's] report says, it’s written there, that ‘she presented so many different versions of what happened that I can’t believe a word’.” Strauss-Kahn suggested that financial motives might have been behind Diallo’s accusations. He also dismissed as “imaginary” a separate claim by a French writer that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, again insisting “no act of aggression, no violence” had taken place between the two. Because a police investigation into Tristane Banon’s claim is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn said he would not say anything more about the matter. If Paris prosecutors decide to pursue the case, Strauss-Kahn could face a possible trial. New York prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against him in the Diallo case last month, though Strauss-Kahn is still facing a lawsuit brought by the maid. Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would “take time to reflect” and rest first. “But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good,” he said, adding “we will see”. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France New York Europe United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former head of IMF speaks of regret about sexual encounter in interview on French television Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, acknowledged on Sunday that his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid was a “moral failing” on his part, but didn’t involve violence, constraint or aggression. In his first interview since his arrest over sexual assault accusations, Strauss-Kahn told France’s TF1 television channel what happened between him and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, “was not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that, it was an error”. Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist politician who was widely considered a top contender in next year’s presidential race until the case broke, said “it was a failing, a failing vis-a-vis my wife, my children and my friends but also a failing vis-a-vis the French people, who had vested their hopes for change in me. “I think it was a moral failing and I am not proud of it. I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it everyday for the past four months and I think I’m not done regretting it,” he said at the start of the 20-minute interview. Much of the exchange came off as staged, with Strauss-Kahn appearing calm and unruffled throughout and not surprised by the questions. Strauss-Kahn’s initial contrition was peppered with anger at his accuser, a Guinean immigrant who maintained he attacked her after she came into his room at New York’s Sofitel hotel to clean. He said the New York prosecutor concluded “Nafissatou Diallo lied about everything – not only about her past, that’s of no importance, but also about what happened. The[prosecutor's] report says, it’s written there, that ‘she presented so many different versions of what happened that I can’t believe a word’.” Strauss-Kahn suggested that financial motives might have been behind Diallo’s accusations. He also dismissed as “imaginary” a separate claim by a French writer that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, again insisting “no act of aggression, no violence” had taken place between the two. Because a police investigation into Tristane Banon’s claim is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn said he would not say anything more about the matter. If Paris prosecutors decide to pursue the case, Strauss-Kahn could face a possible trial. New York prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against him in the Diallo case last month, though Strauss-Kahn is still facing a lawsuit brought by the maid. Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would “take time to reflect” and rest first. “But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good,” he said, adding “we will see”. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France New York Europe United States guardian.co.uk
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Dominic Grieve urged to stop police using Official Secrets Act to force Guardian to reveal sources in phone hacking case The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, is facing growing pressure to block an attempt by the Metropolitan police to use the Official Secrets Act to force journalists to reveal their sources. As senior Liberal Democrats indicated that Nick Clegg was “sympathetic” to journalists, police sources also expressed unease after Scotland Yard applied last week for an order under the 1989 act to require the Guardian to identify its sources on phone hacking. One police source said the decision to invoke the act was “likely to end in tears” for the Met. Lib Dem sources said that as deputy prime minister, Clegg was unable to express a view on what action the attorney general should take. But senior Lib Dems lined up at the party conference in Birmingham to call on the attorney general to use his powers to rule that the Yard’s use of the act is not in the public interest. Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, who is suing News International over alleged phone hacking at the News of the World, said: “Millions of people believe the Guardian has done a public service by exposing the series of scandals behind phone hacking carried out on a regular basis by individuals on behalf of other media organisations like the Murdoch empire. It is entirely inappropriate for the Officials Secret Act to be used to try to prosecute journalists who have taken these actions. “I hope that the law officers, or the government more widely, will make it clear that such an intervention and such a prosecution would not be in the public interest. The police or the Crown Prosecution Service may be able to justify on technical grounds that this is the proper thing to do. But the wider interests should prevail and the sooner a decision is made to end plans to prosecute the better.” Don Foster, a veteran Lib Dem MP who advises the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, informally on media issues, called on the attorney general to block the “extremely bizarre” use of the act. “I understand the attorney general has the opportunity to use this power,” Foster said after a fringe meeting, organised by the Hacked Off campaign, that was addressed by the actor Hugh Grant. “He should use it and say this is not in the public interest.” Foster, who praised the Guardian for “fantastic journalism” in exposing phone hacking, found unanimous support at the fringe meeting when he asked whether the Guardian’s disclosure that Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked – the revelation that prompted the police use of the Official Secrets Act – was justified. The MP said: “If it was in the public interest for the Guardian to do what they did it is extremely bizarre, it is almost unheard of, for the Metropolitan police to have used the Official Secrets Act as the basis for seeking to get hold of the information they want.” He added: “It is absolutely vital that we find out first of all who actually signed off agreement to use the Official Secrets Act and, secondly, we have to have a very, very clear explanation of why they are doing it. A final decision is made by the attorney general as to whether to allow it to happen. The one good bit of news is that, in making his decision, the attorney general can use public interest as one of the criteria that he considers. I hope he will very seriously indeed.” Tom Brake, chair of the Lib Dem home affairs committee, said: “The use of the Official Secrets Act in these circumstances is very unusual, and all the more worrying because it does not allow the defendant to argue that their actions were in the public interest. The Met need to explain why they think it is appropriate to use the Official Secrets Act in this case. While this is clearly a matter for the police and the attorney general, I do question whether this action is in the public interest given everything that has happened, or indeed in the interests of investigative journalism.” The political unease was echoed in police circles. One insider asked: “When was the last time the OSA [Official Secrets Act] was used successfully against the media?” The source added that the Met had to be seen to be rigorous, but threatening to get a production order requiring the handing over of notes and the revealing of sources was a step too far: “No one was expecting us to use the OSA. Usually the use of the OSA ends in tears.” With the new Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, not due to start his job as Britain’s top police officer officially until later this month, the source added: “He is not even in office and he is facing his first crisis.” Hugh Grant said at the Hacked Off meeting: “A lot of us victims and campaigners had come to the view that the new police inquiry – [Operation] Weeting under Sue Akers – were good cops. It was a new investigation. They were embarrassed by the behaviour of their predecessors and colleagues. So for them to suddenly turn on their fellow goodies in this battle is worrying and deeply mysterious.” The Met said that the application for a production order was made under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and did not seek to use powers under the Official Secrets Act. But the police said that the OSA was mentioned in the application because a possible offence under that act might have been committed. Press freedom Phone hacking The Guardian National newspapers Newspapers & magazines Newspapers Metropolitan police Police Dominic Grieve Liberal Democrats Nicholas Watt Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Dominic Grieve urged to stop police using Official Secrets Act to force Guardian to reveal sources in phone hacking case The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, is facing growing pressure to block an attempt by the Metropolitan police to use the Official Secrets Act to force journalists to reveal their sources. As senior Liberal Democrats indicated that Nick Clegg was “sympathetic” to journalists, police sources also expressed unease after Scotland Yard applied last week for an order under the 1989 act to require the Guardian to identify its sources on phone hacking. One police source said the decision to invoke the act was “likely to end in tears” for the Met. Lib Dem sources said that as deputy prime minister, Clegg was unable to express a view on what action the attorney general should take. But senior Lib Dems lined up at the party conference in Birmingham to call on the attorney general to use his powers to rule that the Yard’s use of the act is not in the public interest. Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, who is suing News International over alleged phone hacking at the News of the World, said: “Millions of people believe the Guardian has done a public service by exposing the series of scandals behind phone hacking carried out on a regular basis by individuals on behalf of other media organisations like the Murdoch empire. It is entirely inappropriate for the Officials Secret Act to be used to try to prosecute journalists who have taken these actions. “I hope that the law officers, or the government more widely, will make it clear that such an intervention and such a prosecution would not be in the public interest. The police or the Crown Prosecution Service may be able to justify on technical grounds that this is the proper thing to do. But the wider interests should prevail and the sooner a decision is made to end plans to prosecute the better.” Don Foster, a veteran Lib Dem MP who advises the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, informally on media issues, called on the attorney general to block the “extremely bizarre” use of the act. “I understand the attorney general has the opportunity to use this power,” Foster said after a fringe meeting, organised by the Hacked Off campaign, that was addressed by the actor Hugh Grant. “He should use it and say this is not in the public interest.” Foster, who praised the Guardian for “fantastic journalism” in exposing phone hacking, found unanimous support at the fringe meeting when he asked whether the Guardian’s disclosure that Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked – the revelation that prompted the police use of the Official Secrets Act – was justified. The MP said: “If it was in the public interest for the Guardian to do what they did it is extremely bizarre, it is almost unheard of, for the Metropolitan police to have used the Official Secrets Act as the basis for seeking to get hold of the information they want.” He added: “It is absolutely vital that we find out first of all who actually signed off agreement to use the Official Secrets Act and, secondly, we have to have a very, very clear explanation of why they are doing it. A final decision is made by the attorney general as to whether to allow it to happen. The one good bit of news is that, in making his decision, the attorney general can use public interest as one of the criteria that he considers. I hope he will very seriously indeed.” Tom Brake, chair of the Lib Dem home affairs committee, said: “The use of the Official Secrets Act in these circumstances is very unusual, and all the more worrying because it does not allow the defendant to argue that their actions were in the public interest. The Met need to explain why they think it is appropriate to use the Official Secrets Act in this case. While this is clearly a matter for the police and the attorney general, I do question whether this action is in the public interest given everything that has happened, or indeed in the interests of investigative journalism.” The political unease was echoed in police circles. One insider asked: “When was the last time the OSA [Official Secrets Act] was used successfully against the media?” The source added that the Met had to be seen to be rigorous, but threatening to get a production order requiring the handing over of notes and the revealing of sources was a step too far: “No one was expecting us to use the OSA. Usually the use of the OSA ends in tears.” With the new Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, not due to start his job as Britain’s top police officer officially until later this month, the source added: “He is not even in office and he is facing his first crisis.” Hugh Grant said at the Hacked Off meeting: “A lot of us victims and campaigners had come to the view that the new police inquiry – [Operation] Weeting under Sue Akers – were good cops. It was a new investigation. They were embarrassed by the behaviour of their predecessors and colleagues. So for them to suddenly turn on their fellow goodies in this battle is worrying and deeply mysterious.” The Met said that the application for a production order was made under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and did not seek to use powers under the Official Secrets Act. But the police said that the OSA was mentioned in the application because a possible offence under that act might have been committed. Press freedom Phone hacking The Guardian National newspapers Newspapers & magazines Newspapers Metropolitan police Police Dominic Grieve Liberal Democrats Nicholas Watt Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tax loopholes and write-offs for corporate jets and special interests may fill political talking points, but tax breaks for families—particularly the middle-class families that President Obama says he wants to protect—far exceed corporate giveaways, reports the Washington Post . In fact, corporations accounted for just 8% of $1.08…
Continue reading …Eleanor Mondale, the vivacious daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale who carved out her own reputation as an entertainment reporter, radio show host, and gossip magnet, died yesterday at her home in Minnesota. She was 51. Mondale had been diagnosed with brain cancer years earlier. In a statement emailed…
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